


"I will protect you"

by Delsin



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Mention of abuse, Other, POV Second Person, RalphxReader, a bit of angst, really my first time writing something in english, story starts slow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 13:46:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16242869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delsin/pseuds/Delsin
Summary: You ran away from an abusive home without knowing what to do next. Its raining and you decided to search for shelter. An abandoned house says its hello and you go in, only to find out its not so abandoned after all.





	"I will protect you"

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing in english. I am aware that this story contains a lot of grammatical mistakes and like every sentence starts with You. I proofread it myself like three times and managed to rewrite some parts. I appreciate every comment helping me with improving my english writings skills and all that. Thank you for reading.

It was a rainy cold night like usual in falldriven Detroit and you felt like you deserved every drop of it.  
After deciding to ran away from your parents, you wandered around for hours aimlessly. Recalling the last moments of the fight between you and your parents, over and over. Silently sobbing you walked on. You couldnt remember the time they havent said anything mean, but you kept on fighting. But now youre here. Free? Yes. No parents? Yes. Any clue what to do now? No.  
The natural instinct for survival kicked in and told look for a shelter. But where can a fresh homeless human, without any money find a place in Detroit and that late at night? You looked around and see an abandoned house behind a fence. The Sell by Owner sign atleast says it so. The wire meshed fence has no opening and you couldnt see a hole where you can squeeze through, so you decided to climb it. You tried to put your right foot into on of the small holes and grabbed the top oft he fence. Once you got support as much as possible, you pushed yourself of the ground and swung over it. It was a little too much and you fell to the ground right into a dirty puddle. From one hole into another, you started to sob more but kept going. Determined to get into the dry, warm building you didnt stop and spotted the front door immediately.

You grabbed and turned the doorknob and it sprung open instantly. With tired, but focused eyes you scanned the area and identified it as a living room. With strained ears you tried to hear if someone was inside. Only the constant dripping of rain made its presence clear and a distant thunder said its hello, but beside that it was completely silent. So you carefully stepped inside, closed the door and looked around. You noticed stairs going up, a seemingly broken arcade next to it, a set table for three and with an indefinable black thing on top. But most importantly a fireplace. Right behind the table and you made a beeline for it, feeling a little spark of hope in your heavy loaded soul. You never made a fire before, but you knew the basics. Wood, Paper and fire. That couldn’t be so hard now, wouldnt it. With a new goal in mind you looked around and found those two incredients a plenty. With a smile on your lips you carried those to the fireplace and made a little bed of paper and put some wood on top. Then you ripped up some more paper and threw it on top like you put sprinkles on a cake… Your smile disappeared at that thought. You remembered the way your father makes a fire at home. Flames were always so fascinating for you, since the first time you witness a flame. You asked your father if you could make the fire next time and he always said No. Fires are not for children. And you remembered crying about it. But instead of getting angry, he handed you a few sheets of old newspaper and told you to put it on top of it. Your mood changed instantly and with a wide smile and a giggle in your heart you shredded those paper in tiny bits and threw it on top of it all.  
„Like you did it with the sprinkles on your cake.“  
This little moments are the reason why you couldnt leave your parents earlier. You always thought that your family could go back to normal like before. One day you decided to tell your teacher about your situation, but as you were about to leave the house, your mum kissed you goodbye. It was rare, but it made you always change your mind. Or when you father apologizes with tears in his eyes, after a violent outburst. You cried too, but only because of the heavy inner turmoil you have. What should you do?

A loud sob ripped you out of your thoughts of train and made you anxiously look around, only to realize it came from you. You remembered that you wanted to do a fire and wanted to finish you task, but you forgot the important part. The fire. How should you get matches or a lighter in this goddamn house?  
Frustration set in and you stood up and walked a few steps backwards. The little spark of hope you got with entering this house, just vanished. Hope gone. Why did you ran away? Just because your momma and your daddy werent nice to you? They gave you a bed, a roof and food and this is how you thank them? This is how you fucking thank them?  
Standing there in the middle of the room, clothes soaking wet, shivering and on the brink of crying.  
„No!“ you screamed loud. It echoed through the whole house and for a second you thought the rain stopped. The room suddenly started to spin and you quickly reached out for something to hold on. You managed to grab the banister in time, or you wouldve hit the cracked floorboard, then you let yourself fall onto one step. Feeling the oncoming mental breakdown coming, you tried your best to shake it off. With calming breathing exercises, with counting to ten, but nothing worked. You managed to be strong all these years, now is not the time. But it is useless…your mind raced and thought of every bad thing that happened to you.

You could feel your throat tighten and your lips tremble and you put a hand to your face, a desperate move to keep yourself together. But the second you did it, tears started to form at the corner of your eyes. It made your eyes sting and you let out a choked sob. It travelled through the empty house and you jumped at how loud it was. Only now it made you think that someone was maybe still in the house and was only sleeping or scared. With trembling legs and hands you stood up and looked for a hiding spot. You settled for that little nook under the stairs and with a little adjusting, you managed to lie down. After all, you werent that tall. With your head on your makeshit pillow arms, you closed your eyes and…and…what were you trying to do? Sleeping? Waiting for a wonder? For death? You were freezing cold with no fire, no fresh clothes and covers, so the latter wouldnt be unthinkable.  
Your mind came to term with your fate if you slept here, but your body still couldnt calm down.  
So you lied there, quietly whimpering and sniffing. Wiping away the tears with a corner of your soaked sleeve. Minutes what felt like an hours passed, and you felt your eyes finally getting heavy and your mind drifting away.

As suddenly a loud noise appeared almost next to you and you jolted awake. Recognizing the sound as the door being opened and you felt your heart thumping heavy in your chest. You scooted back more into your nook, but your butt already touched the wall. You tried to catch a glimpse of that someone and got only legs. Those legs went straight to the door next to the fire place and with each step you could see more of the stranger. You could recognize that the person was a long, slender man wearing what seemed to be a green worker uniform. He is also wearing some sort of a cloak around his shoulders and that was it. The top of the stairs blocked your view from going further and you didnt wanted to move from your place.  
The man grabbed the handle and pressed it down, but stopped right in his tracks. You instantly assumed that he was looking at the fire place. Cursing a lot in your mind, you felt panic rising in your stomach. Suddenly the tall figure let out a curse and stormed into the next room only to come out with a knife. At the sight of this you started to shake. You had to get out of here! But there is nothing you could do without making yourself known! You’re trapped!  
You decided that staying put was the best solution to this inescapable situation and all you could do was waiting.

The man walked took one step after the other, the knife slightly shaking. And he muttered something under his breath, too fast and too quiet to make something out of it. His uniform was tattered and had holes on his knees and weird spots on his hands. It looks like he dipped his hands in white paint and couldnt be bothered to wash it off.

„Ralph knows that you’re here!“ Great, there are more here? „R..ralph promise not to hurt you, if youre not hurting Ralph.“ His rushed and nervous voice didn’t gave you the feeling of security, so you waited for the perfect window of opportunity to rush out of the house. If it ever came....

The nervous man walked further in your direction, passed you and it seemed he was about to walk up the stairs. But nothing happens. No more muttering, no floorboard creaking.  
He knows youre here! He has seen you! You know it!  
Your breath hitched at the thought and you felt like screaming.  
But before you could even form any new thought, a hand shot in from the side, grabbed you by the collar of your still wet shirt and yanked you so hard out from under the stairs, that you rolled on the dirty floor. You let out a blood curling scream and tried scrambling to your feet, but you kept stumbling.

So you stayed on the ground and scooted all the way to the back, till you felt the wall stopping you from going further. “Please don’t kill me!“ you cried out with a shaking voice. „I just wanted to sleep here, I..i can go anywhere else,….Please!”  
In a desperate act to gain distance and protection, you pulled your knees to your chest and patted the ground around you, hoping that a weapon of some sort would’ve magically appeared. But unfortunately there were none, so you were stuck with nothing but your hands if it would come down to that. With wide and panicked eyes fixated on him, you watched him.  
He didn’t seem to had moved, because he still stood there at the where you got pulled out, with knife held high.  
The man, seemingly nervous, looked at you and immediately down to his hands, only to look up again. Accompanied by incomprehensible murmur.  
As you moved your eyes to meet his face properly, you let out a loud whimper. A big gaping wound adorned his entire left side of his face. His left eye was completely black and there was a lot of blue…  
You starting to wonder, if that person….  
Startled by the noise, he turned to you, but quickly turned away again. You could hear him whispering No several times.  
Then as he turned to his left, what you saw confirmed your guess: A flashing LED adorned his right temple and changed rapidly between a steady blood Red and a flashing Yellow.  
An Android. A nervous, impatient, knife wielding, aggressivly mumbling Android standing in front of you and he seems to not know what to do right now.  
You never got to see one up so close and therefore had no idea how to react accordingly.  
Your parents couldnt afford their own and you werent allowed to talk or interact with the cityandroids. So naturally, the fascination grew.

„Ralph was scared. Ralph thought you were gonna hurt him, so....so thats why he pulled you that hard. He didnt know t..that youre....! Please forgive Ralph.“ babbled the Android and delicately placed his knife right in front of his feet. And then waddled his way a little to his left to show he truly is sorry.  
„Humans werent always nice to Ralph. No, not nice a..and that’s why he has to be sure that they wont hurt him again. Ralph wont let that happen again, no! No one is ever gonna hurt him!“  
The male android aggressively shook his head.  
„D..did they do that?“ you asked gently and cautious. Ralph quickly looked at you and saw a finger pointing at him. He instantly knew what you meant and answered quietly. You could see sadness and shame in his eyes as he looked back onto the ground.  
The sight of Ralph wasn’t panic inducing anymore, instead a different feeling came up.  
With a more growing fascination you slowly got up and wiped your tears stained cheeks dry.  
Sometimes a little sob escaped but you completely calmed down.  
Empathy. Ralphs sight caused you to feel empathy and you had the urge to help him. To show him that not every human is evil. You weren’t. Despite your personal experiences, you still believed in humans and your confidence will inspire him. Right? There was hope at least. But maybe its your own deep down personal wish after a loving person that speaks right now. Someone who protects you from the evil.  
„Ralph, I’m really sorry that it happened to you. Humans werent nice to me either.Look.“  
You rolled up the sleeves of your thin shirt and showed him your wounded arms. Fresh cutwounds covering old scars and there were even some sort of burnmarks, looking like there where from cigarettes.  
The android followed your command and by the sight of your arms, his jumpiness turns instantly into concern and his flashing LED stuck to constant red.  
„Oh no. Oh no, why did they do that? Bad humans. Thats not good, no!“ Ralph took your arms into his hands and turned them, examining your wounds with a furrowed brow.  
„Ralph has something to make it better. He has never healed a human but he will trying his best. You will see. Oh yes...“ Then he let go and jogged to the fire place. „But first we need to get a fire going. Humans need warmth right? Otherwise they get sick, oh yes.“ He let out a little chuckle and examined your work.  
„You did nice work here. Ralph just need to put it on fire.“ No sooner said than done.  
He put his hand under his cloak, pulled out a lighter and put the paper on fire. “Come over here.” With a wide smile, Ralph coaxed you to come over to him. His sudden mood change had scared you a little and you felt panic again as he touched you without asking, but you really felt or just wished that Ralph was okay.  
Slowly you started to move, one cautious step after another, and Ralph happily called to you to come. A second time. A third time. Its almost like he cheered you on.  
Then he took your hand and guided you to one of the chairs. “Sit down. Come on.” Ralph quickly dashed into the room right next to the fireplace, only to be loudly looking for something.  
A loud “Gotcha!” indicated that he found what he were looking for and jogged back to you. Ralph put a box on the table, and the cross on it told you it was a first aid kit. You relaxed a little.  
“Like I said, Ralph doesn’t know a lot about humans, but he wanna help this human. Yes, help…”  
You were astound at how fast Ralph can look like he is deep in thoughts and in the next second gleeful, grinning like a little child.  
“That doesn’t matter, Ralph. Im not that good either.“  
“Ohh….you and Ralph are gonna manage that.” And with an exicted handclap in front of his face, he sat down and opened the box.  
He examined every item and put it on the table right next to it.  
You could see that Ralph mouthed silent words, turned it three times and read the label every time he had something in his hands.  
Scissors, a few rolls of bandages, Plaster, little bottles and other stuff for the quick patch up.  
You caught yourself staring again. What was it that Ralph was so mesmerizing? Just because of the fact that he is an android? Suddenly you remembered that you haven’t told him your name.  
“Y/N.” “Uuhh.. wha…?“ Ralph was caught off guard and you snickered at his puzzled expression.  
“That’s my name. Y/N. Just thought you wanna know.“  
“Oh, yes…of course. Of course Ralph wants to know. Y/N. Thats a beautiful name for a human and suits you well. Oh yes it does.” He is smiling again and grabbed on the bottles eventually.  
“Disinfect first.” Ralph grabbed your arm again and you pulled it away with a startled scream.  
The android jumped with shock and let the bottle drop. He pulled his hands up to his chests and clawed at his cloak.  
“Did Ralph do something wrong? Does it hurt that badly? Did Ralph touched your arm to hard? Ralph is sorry, really is…”  
You looked up at him with wide, glassy eyes and spotted his LED flashing Red again. Instant regret came up, but him grapping you like that made you remember…  
“No Ralph…y..you did nothing wrong. Really. I am just scared….when its suddenly too loud and…when someones touches me without warning.”  
Shame crept over you and you buried your face inside your hands. Feeling like crying again, but suddenly you felt something grazing your hair and then an entire hand being placed softly on your head. “Ralph understands that. He also hates that when other screams at him o..or hurt him. Ralph will be extra careful.”  
As he was gently saying that to you, he petted your hair. That motion, that feeling reminds you at better times, before everything went dark. You looked up and saw a beaming Ralph with a smile so wide, you couldn’t stay sad anymore. The smile of a man who suffered so much, but still wanted to give so much love. You are happy.  
You two spend the next few minutes watching the android cleaning and bandaging your arms. The disinfecting agent stung a lot, but Ralph knew how to distract you. He told you about his work as a gardener and how much he loved plants, before he ran away. You didnt know what he meant with that, especially a „Deviant“, but you didnt mind much.  
„Alright!Ralph is done. Y/N should be feeling better already.”  
You examined the thick bandages and let your feets swing freely. Still in need of a few centimeters before you can reach the ground.  
“Thank you Ral…” A big, hearty yawn interrupted you and only now realizing how terribly tired you are. Ralph happy nature took away ever tension and now you could fall asleep right here on the spot.  
„The little human got tired, right? Ralph has a few matrasses upstairs for Y/N to sleep on. O..or maybe he put them right here, in front of the fire. So you have it warm and cozy, oh yes…Ralph would do anything.” The android jumped of his seat and darted to the stairs, only to stop at the bottom of it. With one foot on the first step,hopping up and down, he looked always up and then to you, as if he was waiting for you conformation. “Fire sounds really nice.“ You say and at that he dashed upstairs like he was on fire.  
Looking around the living room, you realized that the table and the chairs were right in front of the fireplace and in the way. You decided you take matter in your own hands and started by putting everything back into the box and placed it aside. Then you lined all three chairs also to the side. Now the table. It was big and looked quite heavy for you, but you didn’t let yourself down now. You decided that you gonna drag it to the wall that divides the living room from the kitchen. It really was heavy, but you managed to line it up perfectly and after catching your breath, you stood back and took in your hard work. The scars pulsated because of the exercise, but you were to happy to give them attention.  
Then you heard a loud creak and a loud huff, and you saw Ralph with a big matress coming down. Slow but steady.  
He put it right in front of the fire, patted it down and puff of dust came up.  
“Ralph is sorry that he hasn’t any better for Y/N.” “That’s okay.” You really meant it, but Ralph jumped up and darted into the kitchen, only to come back with a bunch of clothes under his arm.  
“Ralph remembered that he has those. A bunch of covers for you lie on and to cover yourself. Its more comfortable like that. Ralph doesn’t sleep, so he can only assume.“  
As he talked happily to oneself, he got on his knees and spread one linen out and made sure it covered the whole mattress. Left were covers and a pillow for yourself.  
Watching Ralph making your bed, made you smile again. He loved doing it. He genuinely meant it and wasn’t annoyed one bit.  
“Thank you Ralph. You‘re the best!“ You wanted to fall around his neck and hug him tightly, but you reconsidered it. Remembering that he also didn’t liked sudden movements.  
So you throw your arms to the side and looked at him happily. “Can I hug you?”  
You could see at Ralphs puzzled expression and short blinking LED that he is slightly shocked with your invitation. He was still knee first on your matress and stared at your pillow as if it had answers.  
The android opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but looked like he couldn’t find the right words. “Hug R…Ralph?” He turned on his knees to face you and then stood up. Feeling a little nervous again, he balanced from one foot to the other and wrang with his hands. “Y/N want to h..hug Ralph? But why? Ralph…Ralph doesnt deser…“  
Without hesitate, you went right up to him and snaked your arms around his waist and held him tight. Ralph sucked in air and held it. You could feel how he tensed up, and hoped deeply that this surprise hug will help him. You closed your eyes and digged your face right in his belly. “Ralph do deserve this.” It came out muffled, but he must have heard it, because instantly relaxed and put his shaky hands on your shoulders.  
“Ralph..you are really nice to me. Even though Im human and don’t even know me…and…you….”  
You realized that you ran out of air and backed up a little, still hugging. 

„You are like a father I always wanted.“

Upon hearing this, Ralph eyes widened with realization and looked down to you. “W…what did Y/N just say?” His LED is constantly changing between a short Red and a flashing yellow.  
“It…just…” Suddenly you were really nervous, having the urge to cry and run away. What were you thinking? Telling a random android on the street that you want him as a father?  
“My father isn’t a bad person, but when he eats that candy he gets really angry and then hurts me. And then I ran away and I just… I just want someone to love me and…”  
As you told Ralph about you, the tears started flowing. You tightend your grip on Ralph and let out a choked sob. Still the urge to suppress it, the chokes came inconsistently and you ran out of breath really fast.  
You tried to keep talking, justify yourself why you said that, but you started to hyperventilate. Scared and paniced you pressed your face in Ralph again, holding him tight as if you could get swept away every moment.  
You were scared alone. Scared that your father will find you and drag you back into the hellhole he called home. You wanna stay. With Ralph. You wanna go eat ice cream with him. You wanna go with him in the park. Sitting on his shoulders and feel the wind. Fall asleep in his arms, so he has to carry you to bed and then gives you a goodnight kiss. 

You never got anything for your birthday. Not a single doll or a toy car, no new clothes. Not even a tiny, shitty, store bought cake. But you never complained, because you were to scared in the first place.  
But you got only one wish. A happy family.  
Was that too much to wish for?  
Can a little 11 year old child have that sort of wish? 

You could feel as a thick, black mist engulfed you. You couldn’t see a thing and every sound was quiet and muffled. The black fog got into your lungs and you had the feelings itll suffocate you. No matter how hard you though, coughed, it wouldn’t stop creeping into you. You saw black. 

But suddenly you felt something shaking you. What was happening? The shaking wouldn’t stop and then a loud sound pierced through the thick mist. Whatever this caused, it took you by the hand and guided you out of the dark.  
You could feel your mind, your eyes focusing and you saw into the worried face of Ralph, kneeing in front of you and calling out.  
“Y/N! Y/N, please snap out of it! Please! Stay with Ralph!” He is gently shaking at your shoulders.  
“R..Ralph..” Your voice sounded so strange to your ears and your lungs felt like they were put on fire.  
“W…what happened?” Ralph wiped both over your cheeks with his thumbs and you felt how hard his hand were shaking.  
You looked into the androids eyes. They were bright red and his cheeks were shiny and wet. Did Ralph cry? Because of you? Is that what being loved and cared for feels like? Something inside you tucked at your heartsstrings and you let out a single sob.  
“A Panikattack. You started to hyperventilate and crying. And you were screaming so loud. Ralph knows how it is. How it feels. But he never saw it happening to someone else. Its scary.”  
His shakey voice confirmed your assumption and you had the urge to be there for him now.  
You put your hands on his face and wiped his tears away. Ralphs grimaced, what you can only describe as genuine confusion about what youre doing. His hands shoots up to yours, grabbed them and squeezed them gently. You could feel how warm they are and you couldn’t help and smile a little.  
Ralph returned the smile and it was the warm type you learned to love, with the exception that tears are rolling down again.  
“Ralph thought that something was hurting you. Ralph didn’t know what to do, Ralph was…“  
He looked down, only to take a shaky deep breath and looking up back to you.  
“I was scared about you.”  
The usage of I did not went over your head. You snaked your arms around his neck and hid your face in the crook of his neck. The many layers of clothes scratched your face, but you didn’t mind.  
Ralph did it to.  
“I wanna stay with you Ralph.” “Then stay.”  
You two had no idea how long you stood there like that, but you two knew that the hug was much needed.  
“Im tired Ralph.” You whispered and with a sudden jolt you were flying.  
Ralph stood up, still hugging you, and carried you to your bed, but not without doing a little spin.  
You started to giggle. “Again!” And Ralph did. You threw your arms in the air. “Again! Faster!” Ralph did a spin to the left and right, till both of you got dizzy and Ralph put you on the mattress.  
You’re a giggling mess and threw your head back into your pillow. Ralph tucked you in without a word and attempted to stand up, but you snatched his hand. “Stay here, please. Till I fell asleep?“ You looked at him with a wide grin and lift your blanket as an invitation.  
“You want Ra…me to stay with you?” Ralph still couldn’t believe it. “Yes!” You nodded enthusiastically. „Okay. Scoot over!“ Ralph lied down on his right side and you put your blanket over him. Satisfied, you pressed your face into his chest, laid your head on his right outspread arm and closed your eyes. Like instantly, you felt sleep coming over you in waves and you finally allowed yourself to succumb to sleep.  
“Good night, Dad.” You whispered and you felt how Ralph put his other arm around your head and pulled you more in.  
“Good night, Y/N.”

 

„I will protect you.“

**Author's Note:**

> So, what do you think? After completing the story I realized that hiding the fact that the Reader was a child, was really pointless. There are so many stories already having children in that. But oh well, I did it now. Again every critic and comments in General are welcome <3
> 
> I wanna practice more writing so I will take requests on my Tumblr.   
> https://iadopteveryboyindbh.tumblr.com/


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